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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541461">when i'm with you, i'm at home.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/permets_tu/pseuds/permets_tu'>permets_tu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, its a lot of dialogue but they're cute, one very brief reference of gay solidarity with brad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:47:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541461</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/permets_tu/pseuds/permets_tu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> you're the ember to my flame when it gets dark, and i love the way it feels when i'm with you </i>
</p><p> </p><p>they talk, they kiss, they play portal 2.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dana/Rachel (Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>when i'm with you, i'm at home.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Do you like… play other video games frequently? I used to, and I did again during quarantine, but now considering how my job is playing a game all day, when I get home I usually just want to read a book or scroll Twitter or something. Do you have the same experience? I kinda miss gaming, honestly. But I also want to keep my life varied,” Rachel says, randomly one day. </p><p>“I don’t really play other games that much now, no,” says Dana. “I totally agree with you on everything, I love other games but I just need to relax after work. I play other ones sometimes, just not often.”</p><p>“Oh!” says Rachel, “I have an idea. How about once a week after work we go to one of our apartments and play something! That way we can get that variety but also play what we want to play. Of course, if you’re not tired of me yet.”</p><p>Dana scoffs at this before replying. “Of course I’m not tired of you, Rach! I love that idea. Maybe we could choose Friday nights, so we don’t have to worry about getting up the next day and maybe we can drink wine sometimes while playing. It’s kinda like a sleepover… minus the physical sleeping over. And plus alcohol!”</p><p>“I love that idea!” Rachel exclaims, fully dropping the pretense of still playing the game and turning towards Dana. “We could alternate apartments and whoever’s apartment it isn’t can bring wine. And we can choose the games together! This will be so super fun. We don’t really hang out that much out of work, at least since we’ve been back in the office so it’ll be cool because of that too.”</p><p>“You’re right! You’re like my best friend but we only really see each other at work now. This is a perfect solution to all our problems, honestly.”</p><p>“I’m your best friend?” asks Rachel, who hadn’t really heard any of the other words Dana had been saying.</p><p>“I mean, yeah, I’d say so,” says Dana, “I’ve never actively thought about it, but I talk to you the most of all my friends and we never get bored of each other. That fits the criteria, right?”</p><p>“Oh absolutely!” says Rachel, trying not to appear flustered, “You’re totally my best friend too. I just didn’t know if that went both ways, you know? Like obviously we’re good friends but I didn’t 100% know about best friends. But hell yeah, best friends!” She puts her hand up for a high five, and Dana returns it.</p><p>“Okay, <i>best friend</i>,” says Dana, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to think of a game we can play right now, so we can figure it out over text the next few days! Do you have a wine that you prefer?” </p><p>“I like really any white wines or rosé, I’m not that picky! Preferably no drier than Chardonnay but that’s my only real criteria. Also, do you smoke? Weed, not cigarettes. I have some extra, if you want.”</p><p>“Yeah! I don’t smoke often but I do sometimes. That would be super fun. This is gonna be awesome!” </p><p>“Totally awesome,” agrees Rachel, smiling at Dana. The conversation kinda dies out after this, but Dana sneaks a look over at Rachel a few minutes later, and smiles to herself.</p><p>~</p><p>Friday night comes, and both of the girls are very excited. They decided over the week that they would go to Rachel’s apartment this week, so Dana’s brought the wine. </p><p>“It’s nice to be in a car heading home for once,” says Rachel, while Dana’s driving them to her apartment, “Like sometimes I’ll take a Lyft but for the most part I just take the bus.”</p><p>“I didn’t realize you didn’t have a car,” says Dana. “Glad to help out, then!”</p><p>“Yeah, thanks! I’ll chip in for gas since you’ll have to drive us to both our apartments. Unless you wanna take the bus...” </p><p>Both of them laugh at this. </p><p>Finally, they reach Rachel’s apartment. Dana’s already seen a lot of Rachel’s apartment due to all the quarantine video chatting they did, but she’s happy to be seeing the rest of it. </p><p>“You can just leave your shoes and bag by the door,” says Rachel, “But you can bring the wine to the table.” She grabs some wine glasses from a cabinet after she takes off her shoes, and also takes a corkscrew from a drawer. She puts the glasses and corkscrew on the table and watches Dana sit on the couch before moving to turn on her Xbox and setting up Portal 2.</p><p>“I’m super excited to play this, I haven’t played it in what feels like ages. Honestly I don’t think I’ve played since I started at Mythic Quest,” says Dana. “I’m not even sure I’ve played it with other people before.”</p><p>“God, same,” says Rachel. “Let’s hope I can even still play it well! Also, gonna grab the weed, be right back.” She walks over to her bedroom and disappears for a minute.</p><p>While she’s getting everything, Dana opens the wine and starts pouring some into their glasses. They couldn’t decide what type of wine to get originally, so they asked C.W. which mostly ended up being a mistake because he started rambling about the best wines and mentioned a lot of expensive fancy types, but eventually they decided on a relatively cheap Riesling. Mid-pour, Rachel comes back with a bong, a lighter, and a bag of weed. </p><p>“Lets drink some wine now and play the game for a bit, and then we can smoke. Does that sound good? She grabs the controllers after she drops off the stuff from her room at the table. She then throws one to Dana before sitting down next to her on the couch. They’re sitting kind of close, but there’s a reasonable distance between them. </p><p>They play the game and drink their wine for a bit, and about an hour after they’ve started, Rachel stands up and grabs the stuff from the table and fills up the bong. “You’re familiar with bongs?” she asks. Dana nods. Rachel packs the bowl and grabs the lighter. “You can go first, I’ll light it for you,” she says. </p><p>“Thanks!” Dana replies, taking a hit with Rachel operating the lighter. She looks absolutely beautiful when she exhales the smoke, and Rachel looks at her intently without looking obviously smitten. It’s harder than you’d think. They take a few hits each, lighting the bowl for each other, before they decide to stop. </p><p>“Back to the game?” asks Dana. Rachel nods and picks up her controller again. </p><p>“It is funny to think about how much time we’ve spent on couches together playing games,” says Rachel as they play, “Like this is different because we have wine and weed, and we aren’t playing Mythic Quest, but the basic situation is the same.” </p><p>“No better way to spend time, right?” laughs Dana. Rachel is now acutely aware of the fact that their legs are directly against each other’s. It seems that since they smoked they ended up moving closer to each other. Rachel is still playing the game, but her mind is also wandering. Their thighs are touching now, what would it be like if they held hands? If she put her arm around her? If they kissed? <i>Focus, Rachel, you don’t want her to notice your mind wandering… </i></p><p>“You good, girl?” asks Dana. Rachel startles. <i>Shit.</i> “You kinda spaced out there for a second.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Rachel replies, mentally shaking herself, “It’s just the combo of the weed and wine, I think. I’m a little spacey.”</p><p>“No problem,” says Dana, “let’s stop playing for a little bit, then.” Rachel agrees. </p><p>Dana takes another drink of her wine and then turns towards Rachel on the couch, her knee poking into Rachel’s thigh. “Did you ever imagine your life would turn out this way, when you were in college? Like did you ever think that testing video games for a living would be your life when you were older? I sure didn’t,” Dana says.</p><p>“Nope! I mean, I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do but I didn’t expect this. Like with a Women’s Studies degree, there’s lots of possibilities, but most people in that field don’t end up testing video games. But, I lucked out! Went from being unemployed with no real direction in life to working with awesome people at an awesome and popular game company. It’s truly a dream.” </p><p>“Oh I can totally relate to that,” says Dana. “Like, I was a math major so obviously I had plenty of options after college but I didn’t really vibe with any of the possibilities, so I also ended up pretty directionless. This job really has been a blessing, no matter how weird it is. And, best of all, we met through this job so it's all worth it.” </p><p>“Absolutely worth it,” says Rachel, blushing at this, and feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. She doesn’t notice Dana looking at her lovingly, but it doesn’t even matter because two seconds later Dana’s bridged the gap between them, sitting on her knees and pressing her lips to Rachel’s. Rachel’s brain completely short-circuits and has barely pressed back before Dana pulls away. </p><p>“Oh my god I’m so sorry-”<br/>
“No, it's okay! I-”<br/>
“I just thought that-”<br/>
“I’ve wanted that for months, I just didn’t have enough time to react”<br/>
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortab-”<br/>
“No I literally just didn’t process in time-”<br/>
“So it’s okay if I do it again?”<br/>
“Yes yes yes <i>please</i>” </p><p>With that, Dana closes the gap between them again, and this time Rachel is able to react, and it is absolutely beautiful. Rachel ends up leaning back against the arm of the couch and Dana follows her, situating her hips between Rachel’s legs as they kiss. Dana is an amazing kisser and Rachel doesn’t know how she’s able to hold it even remotely together. She’s wanted this for so long, and apparently Dana’s wanted it too, and she feels like she could burst open with the metaphorical fireworks that were exploding in her chest. She pulls Dana even closer and they continue to make out until Rachel has to pull away to take in a deep breath. She only pulls her head away, though, and Dana doesn’t move from her current position.</p><p>“Holy shit,” says Dana, “I’m so glad we tried that again.”</p><p>“Me too,” breathes Rachel, “I genuinely like… I’ve wanted that for so long. Who knew all it would take is some time away from work?” </p><p>Dana laughs. “I’ve also wanted that for a while. Around the release of Raven’s Banquet, I think?” As she speaks she shifts so she’s lying down, cuddled against Rachel. The warm and fuzzy feeling from earlier comes back to Rachel when she does this, but this time it spreads into her whole body. She can’t believe that she’s actually holding Dana like this after wanting to for as long as she has. </p><p>“You mean we could have been doing this the whole time?!” Rachel jokes, lacing her fingers with Dana. Dana squeezes her hand back and Rachel feels happier than she ever really thought she would feel. </p><p>“Man, if only!” Dana says, with a grin, “I guess we have a lot of time to make up for. Thankfully we’ve already planned weekly game nights! But now they can be weekly date nights and we don’t have to play games every time.”</p><p>“Weekly date nights sound awesome,” replies Rachel. “And we get to hang out at work all the time too! If you didn’t get tired of me before you won’t now.” </p><p>“Never,” says Dana, squeezing Rachel’s hand again. “We’ll never get bored now, between movies and games and kisses and everything.” </p><p>Rachel kisses Dana’s forehead and Dana snuggles a little closer to her. </p><p>“I’ve had a crush on you since before Raven’s Banquet was released,” Rachel says, “I never imagined that you’d have feelings for me as well. I had somewhat of an inkling when we went to the arcade instead of working, but then Jo had to ruin it before I got to confirm if there was something there. It only took many months and a global pandemic for us to figure it out!”</p><p>“I think the moment I realized was when we hung out all night in the empty office and stole Poppy’s ice cream sandwiches and stuff. Like, how could I not be a little in love with you after that?” </p><p>“That night was absolutely incredible,” says Rachel, smiling fondly at the memory.</p><p>“I have to ask,” says Dana, “Are you the reason that I got my testing job back? I can’t think of anyone else in the company that cares about me enough to do that. Especially since Carol said she couldn’t do it.”</p><p>“Yeah,” confirms Rachel, “That was me. Brad was the one who made that actually happen, surprisingly.”</p><p>“Brad?!” says Dana, “Wow, he has a heart after all. There’s something to be said about gay solidarity…” </p><p>“Yeah,” laughs Rachel, “I mean like, I’m the reason he decided to help but he did the work by moving Lou out so you could come back. He’s probably gonna ask for some ridiculous favor at some point in the future, but it was so worth it. I couldn’t imagine working there without you.”<br/>
“I was literally so upset that I had to leave. We would have stayed in contact, obviously, but it wouldn’t have been the same. And to have a dream job of mine ripped out of my hands because of the cruelty of the internet was so painfully unfair.”</p><p>“Thank god it worked, or we might not be where we are today. And that’s a possibility it hurts to think about. But, we’re okay! We’re better than okay. We get to still work together, and we get to kiss each other, and hold hands… What could be better? It’s perfect.”</p><p>“You’re perfect,” says Dana, with a wink.</p><p>“You’re perfect,” repeats Rachel, with a grin.</p><p>“You know,” says Dana, “You mentioned kissing… wanna get back to that?”</p><p>“Absolutely! Yes. So much,” says Rachel, feeling kinda dizzy with an overwhelming sense of happiness. Dana kisses her, and it’s hard to believe that this is only the second time they’ve done this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks for reading!! i LOVE this show and i love this ship and i just knew i had to write something for them even though i haven't published a fic in years. i might write a brad/david fic too, and/or more fics for rachel/dana, if i ever find a plotline.</p><p>the title/summary lyrics are from "when i'm at home" by the maine. </p><p>if you'd like, you can follow me on twitter @davidbritlesbee (his name is one character past the limit for twitter handles so i improvised haha)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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